Overview

"Linda Pope is a practical environmentalist with a sense of urgency. Her research has led her to understand that solutions are already abundant. What's needed are doers who can step outside their comfort zones and simply ""be the change."" From Birdhouses to Tiny Houses describes one of Linda's experiments in environmental courage and her students' willingness to learn hands-on. The book demonstrates the power of community-based learning in a real-life sustainability project of 60+ college students, 20+ volunteers, 10+ benefactors and an enthusiastic instructor. The sub-title Courage Changes Everything hints at the essence of this book and others from this impassioned author. In her introduction she writes, ""We have little to no time to become experts [in sustainability]. Instead, we have to become courageous, to just step up to the edge of experience and dive in. More often than not, our mistakes will be minimal, or reversible, and we will get a jump-start at transforming our neighborhoods and ourselves."" Portland, Oregon provides the perfect venue for Pope's experiment: an ecologically-oriented city culture with significant government and NGO support for solutions to complex urban problems like rapid gentrification and homelessness. Pope originally had her students build birdhouses with repurposed materials and ecoroofs. That experience gave her the courage to attempt the construction of a tiny house with her students. By the end of the third term, a fully sustainable tiny house had been constructed at Dignity Village, a city-supported housing alternative near the Portland airport. Tiny house enthusiasts will find great inspiration here, as will advocates for the homeless and crusaders for low-impact buildings. Faculty in Environmental Science programs can use the book as a course text and as a playbook for similar projects. The Sustainability Avatar Learning Community, launched at the AASHE conference in October 2016, provides a hub for change-agent students and faculty to share resources and stories."

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9780997756029

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Reviews

This book is a how-to manual for building tiny houses and community, for re-inventing education in the US, and for saving the world one neighborhood at a time. The words bring to life the actual as-lived adventures of a single instructor and sixty-some students, while also laying out a guide for walking a similar path in teaching, learning and creating new ways of doing for the world. Dr. Alyson Lighthart Dean for Math and Sciences Portland Community College Cascade Campus This is an inspiring book. For many years, I taught construction and sustainability following a hierarchical trade union model - with little room for the sort of creativity and collaboration that made Ms. Pope's projects come alive. In this delightful book, she shows teachers and would-be builders how to make a real difference in the world - solving real problems with practical, workable activity. Dale Allen, M.Ed. Vocational Ed Coordinator Portland YouthBuilders

Author Information

Linda C. Pope has been teaching sustainability, environmental science, and other life sciences at the college level since 1997. She has also taught special programs in science since 2008 for preschool through fifth grade. She completed her undergraduate degree at Goddard College in Vermont where she learned about creative approaches to learning and life. She has a Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University and a second Masters in Science (Plant Physiological Ecology) from the University of Maryland-College Park. She developed an Individual sustainability course for Portland Community College, in Portland, Oregon. She has lived all over the United States, as well as in England, France, and Algeria. These varied experiences provide a strong base from which to consider sustainability concerns. Working currently with various homeless organizations, she strives to find solutions for this growing segment of our population.

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